I'd Freeze the Heavens for You
by Rhov
Summary: In a desperate race against time, Gray runs frantically through a massive magical labyrinth, facing monsters and slow starvation, to get Lucy back from a derange wizard. With each twist in the maze, he slowly discovers warm feelings he's been trying to suppress for a long time.
1. Labyrinth

_A/N: This is dedicated to Emil C, who requested that I write a GraLu fic for his birthday. It'll be short, ten chapters, Rated T for language. This story was inspired by the _One Piece_ doujinshi "Hito Ha Maigo Toiu Keredo." It's not the same, but it contains similar elements, so I'm just putting credit where it's due. And speaking of that... _Fairy Tail _is the property of Hiro Mashima, I don't own it, I don't make money off of it, I just hone in my skills by writing about it._

* * *

**I'd Freeze the Heavens for You**

a _Fairy Tail_ fanfic

by Rhov

.

Chapter 1

**Labyrinth**

"Gray, Natsu, come look!" Lucy enthusiastically waved a mission flier as she came over to where Gray, Happy, and Natsu were sitting by the bar. "It looks like a really good mission, and the reward will cover my rent." She read off the mission. "Apprehend the wanted criminal Willie Whitehall, notorious terrorizer of carnivals and summer festivals. Capture him alive and bring him in for interrogation on how to undo his nefarious magic. Approach with caution. Wanted for causing fifty-two deaths and over two hundred disappearances."

"Wait a minute," Gray said, shaking his head to slow down her eagerness. "Did you say Whitehall, as in _the_ Willie Whitehall?"

Gray looked over Lucy's shoulder, way too close for the blonde's comfort, and read the job description once again. Lucy blushed a little at feeling his icy breath on her neck from how close he was.

"Have you heard of him?" asked Natsu.

"Yeah," Gray frowned. "Runes wizard. He lived near my home village. Even back then, Whitehall was known for being a psychotic dark wizard with a sick fascination for fatal games. He'd show up to carnivals and such, have so-called fun houses, but people never came out. He once turned an entire mansion into a haunted house and set a rule that the weak-hearted heiress of the family had to make it through the haunted house without screaming or all the family and servants would become ghosts, and she would be trapped inside with them forever. That haunted house was still there when me, Lyon, and Ur went by it one day. You could still hear the girl screaming inside, trapped in there for eternity."

Lucy shivered a little, looked back down at the flier, thinking twice about it.

"How cool!" Natsu shouted. He grabbed the flier away and looked over it for himself. "The reward is good, too. Leave it to Lucy to find the missions with the best rewards."

"Aye!" Happy agreed. "Lucy is good at finding men with money to burn."

"A runes wizard," she frowned. "I dunno. I mean, it sounds easy at first, it's just one man, and a carny at that! Still...are you sure we're a good team for something like this? If you get caught in their runes, there's not much you can do. The Thunder God Tribe might be better since they have Freed."

Mirajane, who had been waiting patiently to see whether or not she should confirm Team Natsu's choice in mission, informed them, "They're still not back from their mission with Laxus."

Gray looked thoughtful. "Taking Whitehall down would cancel all the runes he's set up so far. It could free that girl in the mansion, and who knows how many other people he's terrorized over the years."

The dragon slayer thrust the flier at Mirajane. "We're taking it!"

"Natsu," Lucy warned, but she held back from protesting. It was she who picked the mission, after all. "I dunno, I suddenly have a bad feeling about this one."

Erza stomped forward just then. "A mission? Where?"

"Far north, Tigardus Mountains," replied Gray. "I know the area. There will be a lot of snow this time of year."

"Then pack warmly. We leave tomorrow morning," the Titania said, and Lucy knew there was no point in arguing now that Erza was set on going.

* * *

It was a long train ride, with Natsu vomiting the whole way, then a carriage ride to a place the northern locals called simply "The Maze." According to rumors, Willie Whitehall had built the hedge maze five years ago, and already it took the lives of two dozen people, plus over fifty people simply disappeared in the maze. From the outside, it looked like just a towering wall of thick bushes with a gate to enter, but there was an invisible barrier humming with magic.

Erza stepped up to the glow around the gate. "Runes," she realized. "This really must be Willie Whitehall's maze. I can't tell what they say."

Lucy touched the runes, but her hand passed right through. She cautiously began to walk past the gateway.

"Be careful," Gray said, holding onto her shoulder and also walking into the entry of the maze.

"What do you see?" Erza asked, still examining the outer wall.

Lucy looked left and right. "Just a passage made from bushes with red berries. I don't know, this is a little creepy."

"I don't care, let's go!" Natsu said, and he and Happy walked toward the gate only to smack into a barrier. "Hey, what gives!"

Happy rubbed out his nose. "That hurts."

"Lucy!" Erza shouted.

"Waah! They're disappearing!" Happy yelled.

The three watched as both Lucy and Gray faded from view. Erza requipped a sword and stormed forward, but she too was blocked from entering.

"What the hell?" Natsu yelled. He pounded his fists against the purple runes. "Lucy!"

Erza pulled out a mini-lacrima. "We need someone who can interpret these runes. Damn, I was too careless. I'll see if Levy can come and figure out what this is all about."

"Dammit!" Natsu shouted, kicking the gate of runes. "Why only Lucy and Gray, huh? Stupid ice bastard!"

* * *

Inside the maze, it was eerily silent. Lucy walked forward two steps to the left with her hand against the left wall.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked, watching her curiously.

"My family's estate had a hedge maze," she answered. "There's a trick to them. Keep your hand on the left wall. If you do that, eventually you'll find the exit."

A craggy voice laughed. "Smart girl!"

The snow on the ground whipped into a storm. Gray grabbed Lucy and pulled her against his chest in worry. In the midst of the snowy cyclone, a form took shape, and soon an aging man with a long white beard stood before them.

"Whitehall's the name, mazes are my game! I am a genius of games, and you, my dearies, are lucky enough to have stumbled into my masterpiece, a maze of epic proportions, designed especially for lovers like you."

"What!" Lucy shrieked. "Lovers?"

Gray quickly released his hold on her. "Just a minute here. It's not like that."

"Oh, but if you're here, then it most certainly is like that, my boy."

"Screw this," Gray glared. "We are from Fairy Tail, and we're here to arrest you."

Whitehall covered his mouth. "Oh dear me! You're not here for the fun? Perhaps this maze will change that frigid attitude of yours."

"Where's Erza?" Lucy looked back to the gate. "I don't see them." She tried to run to the entrance, but she was blocked by a wall of runes.

"No, no, sweetie. Once a person enters _Whitehall's Wonderful Winter Maze_," he declared the name flamboyantly with his arms stretched out, "they can't escape until they make it through to the end, and those outside can't see the people inside after ten seconds, enough time to say your goodbyes."

"I knew you were a sick man," Gray sneered. "When I was growing up, parents in my village told children about you as threats to be good. Our town couldn't have a summer festival for three years because the town leaders were too scared you'd show up and wreck it."

"Oh my, that was a long, long time ago," Whitehall chuckled. "It's been simply ages since my days of carnival chaos and festival fatalities. No, I'm into mazes now, and as I said, this is my masterpiece, a true work of art, flawless in every way. It's certified as the largest maze in all of Fiore."

"And we have to beat it, right?" Gray said stubbornly. "I bet those runes out there have that as the rule."

The old man tapped the side of his nose. "Very good, boy. Even if you try to arrest me, you cannot leave until you complete the maze."

Gray sneered. "Fine. We'll play your game. How long does it takes to complete this damn maze?"

Whitehall chuckled cruelly. "When I first had the maze built, I made it through here on my own in three days. Of course, I am a genius! I figure it'll take average people twice as long. That is why you have one week."

"It takes a whole week?" Lucy exclaimed. "We don't have a week."

"In a hurry?" the man asked with a smirk.

"No, but we have no food or water with us. Unless there's food inside, at like checkpoints."

"Oh, no, nothing like that, sweetie. Still, you're lucky. It's snowing, so you can drink the melted snow, and the bushes that make up the maze have bloodberries."

"Bloodberries!" Gray cried out.

"Oh, don't worry," Lucy smiled. "I used to eat bloodberry pie as a kid. They're tasty." She began to reach toward some of the plump berries that covered the bushes.

Gray grabbed her hand and yanked it away. "Those were southern bloodberries. Northern bloodberries are highly poisonous. If you eat them, you'll die in three days."

The old wizard looked delighted. "Ah, you must be from this region. Indeed, bloodberries in the south of Fiore are edible, but the northern bloodberry is highly toxic. They smell alike, look alike, even taste alike. Only those who grew up around here know the difference. Most who enter the maze don't know the terrain, eat the berries, and die before completing the maze. Isn't that deliciously tragic?"

"How horrible!" Lucy gasped. "You purposely picked a berry others would mistake."

He held up a knobby finger. "Ignorance is no excuse. You should be feeling grateful that I went to the trouble of planting berry bushes at all. Poison is more preferable than starvation."

"And what happens at the end of one week?" Gray asked suspiciously.

"Hmm? Oh, did I not explain that part?" Whitehall waved his hand. A massive shadowy black hand came out of the ground at Lucy's feet, lifting her into the air with a scream, and wrapping around her in a tight squeeze.

"Lucy!" Gray bolted forward but froze suddenly, worried that if he did anything, the shadow might crush her.

"She'll be waiting for you at the end of the maze, my boy. In one week, if you have not solved my maze, the girl will be frozen and it's Game Over. If you make it out after that time, you're free to leave, but she becomes my newest piece of frozen art. Have fun! Kyahahaha!" Whitehall rose into the air, and Lucy was pulled away with him.

"Gray!" she shouted, reaching down to him.

Gray stretched his fingers up to her. They touched for only a moment before she was pulled out of his grasp.

"Lucy!"

"One week, boy," Whitehall called down tauntingly. "Enjoy yourself, and beware of the berries."

Gray cursed as both Lucy and the insane man floated over the maze and to the north.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Aimless

Chapter 2

**Aimless**

Gray raced through the maze in a panic. He had one week to finish this cursed labyrinth that even the creator needed three days to complete, and he had no food. If he failed, Lucy would be frozen. Normally cool under pressure, Gray felt nothing but panic. If it had been someone else, if Natsu had been the one taken away, maybe Gray could have kept calm and thought about what to do. Instead, it was Lucy, and his mind went into a blinding rage the minute Whitehall flew away with the blonde girl.

Gray turned many corners, not paying attention to Lucy's suggestion on the proper way to escape a hedge maze. He had seen Whitehall and Lucy flying north, and that was where he tried to head. Just another corner...always, he expected to see clues just around the corner. Instead, he came across dead end after dead end, until suddenly he was back at the beginning.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

He ran in the other direction now, randomly following twists, until he realized he was in another area he had been to, considering his own shoe prints were in the snow.

"Screw this," he growled. "Ice-Make: Ladder!"

A blue circle flashed, and a ladder laid up against the hedge of bloodberry bushes. He began to climb when an annoyingly mocking mechanical voice came through the air.

"_Nu-uh-uh! This is your first and only warning. Climbing over, digging under, or destroying the bush walls all count as penalties, and each penalty will take off eight hours of your time for completing Whitehall's Wonderful Winter Maze. Play by the rules, and have a pleasantly fun day._"

"Figures," Gray growled. "I gotta sit. It's been an hour at least. I'm going about this all wrong."

Gray walked over to a stone fountain where two corridors intersected in a cross. The fountain was frozen over, but that was fine. If the berries were poisonous, he would bet the water was, too.

Gray sat heavily, only now realizing he was panting from running around for so long. He dropped his head into his hands and yanked at the black strands of hair with a growl of frustration. Just then, the same mocking voice announced:

"_You now have six days and twenty-three hours left._"

"Is that so?" Gray grumbled wryly. "Good to know I've screwed around for a whole hour. Goddammit!" His frustration turned to worry. A whole hour, and he had no clue what Whitehall was up to, where he went, or what he had planned. Despite himself, Gray shivered as a thousand worst-case scenarios plagued his mind. "Lucy..." he whispered. "Just wait for me. God, I hope you're safe."

* * *

In a cabin placed in the dead center of the maze, Lucy sat at a table with a steaming cup of tea. She mindlessly stirred in a sugar cube and watched a video lacrima. On its screen was Gray in the maze. She could see the panic in his face, and she worried for him.

"Has he stopped running aimlessly?" a woman asked.

"Yes, looks like he calmed down," Lucy said sadly.

An svelte woman named Wisteria sauntered into the room. She had short and spiky purple hair, a bust that matched Lucy's impressive size, and an impossibly skinny waist that was showed off by jeans so loose, they hung on her hips, and a boyish teeshirt torn short so that it barely covered her breasts. She had already explained to Lucy, she was a servant of Willie Whitehall, the caretaker of this cabin, and her duty was to attend the person carried off to this place to wait while their lover completed the maze. Lucy had spent a long time fiercely denying this whole _lover_ nonsense, but Wisteria seemed not to care. She fixed tea, baked some cookies, and gave Lucy the video lacrima that was tied into cameras stations all over the maze. This allowed the girlfriend to watch, and it provided Whitehall with his sick entertainment.

"God, I hope you're safe," she heard him say.

"Gray," Lucy sighed, touching the face that showed a tear sliding down such pale skin. "Idiot. Don't worry about me. I'm more worried about you."

"He can't hear you," Wisteria said. "We can see and hear your man, but he doesn't know he's being watched. This is a way for the person waiting at the end to see the true emotions of their partner."

"True emotions?" Lucy pouted at the servant's words. "I don't get this maze at all. You say it's for lovers, but Gray and I are only friends. We're teammates, nothing more."

Wisteria gazed at her with something akin to pity. "Is that how both of you feel?"

"Of course! Gray...I mean, he's cute, sure, but...lover? No way!"

The purple-haired woman sighed sadly. "Then I fear for his success. Love spurs a person on. Love also defeats the evil of this cursed labyrinth. If there is no love between you, I'm afraid, Lucy Heartfilia, that your life will be very short indeed."

* * *

Outside, Erza was on the lacrima with Levy. She turned the lacrima recorder to the gateway with its wall of runes in some odd language.

"Yes," Levy said excitedly. "It's a dialectic writing unique to the Tigardus Mountain region, almost unheard of in the rest of Fiore. There's a bunch of gibberish about how great and awesome this maze is—seriously, this Whitehall man was on an ego trip while casting these runes—but what it boils down to is that the only people who can enter the maze are couples who have feelings of love for one another. The couple will be separated, and one has a week to complete the maze to save their lover from being frozen."

Natsu scratched his head in confusion. "Then why can't I enter?"

Levy blinked in shock. "Do you...um...love Lucy?" she asked, blushing slightly in shock.

"Sure! I love all of my nakama," he declared boldly.

Erza rubbed out a throbbing vein. "Not that type of love, idiot."

Levy clarified, "The word used signifies _romantic_ love."

Happy looked at the purple writing in confusion. "But Gray and Lucy aren't dating, although Gray lllllikes her."

Erza hummed thoughtfully. "Do the runes specify that it has to be requited love?"

Levy looked through the lacrima again, squinting as she tried to read it. "No, nothing about that. Just that the romantic love has to be mutual."

"I don't get it," Natsu pouted.

Erza sighed as she comprehended far more than just the meaning of the runes. "Lucy must like Gray in a romantic way, and Gray feels the similarly. The two just haven't come to acknowledge it yet."

"Lucy llllloves Gray!" Happy giggled. "Gray and Lucy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

* * *

Inside the maze, Gray was back at work, one hand on the left wall like how Lucy had begun to do it. Always follow to the left wall...that was what she said. Of course, that worked best when a person began that rule from the beginning and not an hour into the maze. He could have been leaving marks behind too, dropping berries or crumbs of ice or...or _something_. Instead, like an idiot, he had panicked. Having Lucy taken away made him unable to think. He ended up just running around and getting lost.

It was dark now. The sun set early this far north during wintertime, and the night was going to be brutally cold for everyone except him. He already felt hungry, but he knew he could not eat the poisonous berries until starvation was inevitable. He realized it had been foolish to run around. Now his energy was burned off. He needed to consider his route and not race through blindly.

As the darkness intensified until he could see nothing and only knew the direction by the hand that stayed on the left wall, he really wished Lucy was there. She was smart; she probably could find her way out of this maze in less than three days. He worried about her being with that psychopath, but Whitehall at least seemed like a man who stuck to the rules of his own game. He would not dare hurt Lucy...not for one week, at least.

"_You now have six days and sixteen hours left._"

Hearing the time limit chime every hour made Gray want to start running again, but he had to calm himself. It was dark, and he had nothing with which to build a fire. He guessed some people in the maze froze to death. Luckily, he had no problem with the cold. It was food that troubled him! His stomach was twisting. The plump red berries shining in the moonlight seemed to mock him.

Gray knew he needed sleep. Although he was wasting time with dreams, he had to pace himself. Going delirious with lack of sleep would be far worse than six to eight hours of rest. If only his stomach would stop growling.

He settled down as well as he could. The snowy ground was not a problem, but the hard path underneath gave no comfort. He pulled his hood down low to block the tempting view of the berries and tried to get a little sleep.

* * *

In a manor far to the north, Whitehall watched his screen.

"Thus, the little wizard sleeps fitfully his first night," he said, narrating his own scene. "A rather uneventful day, but only because he's one lucky boy. He might have gotten lost at first, but that one twist he made at random put him a full day closer, and avoided three pitfalls, than if he had followed the left wall from the very beginning. See, I know the left wall trick, so I designed this maze to work against that. Following the left wall will take the longest and bring you into the most dangerous zones. But it seems he's stubbornly following that advice now. Good! That'll make it more entertaining for me. I estimate it will take him three more days, if he follows his current pace and avoids the pitfalls. Oh, and if he can withstand the hunger and the brutal winter chill."

Whitehall pressed his fingers together, enjoying the crackling fire that cast ominous shadows on his bearded face.

"Still, that's only half the fun. Then there is the girlfriend. Or maybe I should say, the unrequited lover."

He looked over to another lacrima screen that showed Lucy sitting at a table, ignoring the food Wisteria had made for her, her brown eyes focused on the lacrima of Gray trying to sleep.

"Will the two discover their buried feelings for one another? Will that spark of love fizzle before it can ignite? Yes, these two are truly entertaining. Not really lovers, yet both have feelings for one another hidden so deep inside, they can't confess it to themselves. I've not seen that before in this maze. It makes things oh-so-deliciously more suspenseful, and that, boys and girls, is what I _live _for."

Whitehall looked up to his _audience_, an entire corridor lined with statues, massive crystals of frozen bodies, mostly women, although one was a man from a rare chance when a gay couple wandered into the maze.

"Yes, you all know how I love tragic entertainment." He walked up to one of the frozen girls, her face forever captured weeping for a lover who never showed up. "Isn't that so, my dear? Love is most beautiful when in the throes of tragedy. That is why I consider each and every one of you true art." He stroked the magic ice that encased the girl. "Like this, you are forever perfect in my eyes, entertaining, filled with such emotion. Artists can never hope to capture what I have here: the expression of love shattering into woe. That's why I built this maze. It either transforms lukewarm love into fiery passion, or it perfectly captures the greatest tragedy of love, frozen for all time. Why, I got into the carnival business because I loved to see emotions on people's faces, grimaces of terror at a roller coaster, screams of panic in a haunted house, faces turning green as a ride makes their stomach hurl, and afterward, all is jolly laughs once more. Expression! Emotion! Such inspiring art!"

He strode through the hall lined with crystal frozen figures, each with agony and sadness on their faces.

"Another piece shall join us soon. That boy lacks the passion needed to complete my maze. I predict he will fail. That blonde will make a charming addition to my art collection. I think I should place her here, by the stained glass window. Yes, the colors of the sun shining through would light up her golden hair so beautifully. I just hope she has a good face when she's frozen over."

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Pitfalls

Chapter 3

**Pitfalls**

"_Grrrrrrrlaaarrrooowwwgrrrroow!_"

Gray jumped to his feet in an instant, blind with sleep, but he rapidly blinked his eyes to wake himself. Reacting on pure instinct, he had his hands out, a magic circle up, and he looked around frantically for the beastly sound.

"I knew this stupid labyrinth had monsters. I just knew it," he sneered. "Where is it?"

"_Grrrrrowwwwl!_"

This time, he heard the same sound more clearly...and it was coming from his stomach. Gray blushed, although there was no one around to hear his stomach's complaints.

"That's right, I missed dinner. There won't be breakfast, either. Damn!" he grumbled, looking around. "I almost wish there was a monster. Then I could eat it."

He rubbed out the twisting in his gut and realized he had to get going.

"Follow the left wall," he recalled. That had been Lucy's advice for successfully completing a giant maze. However, due to leaping up and looking around so fast, he completely forgot which wall was the left one. "Crap!"

He looked down the left passage, then down the right one. It had been so dark by the time he stopped walking, he did not recognize either direction. If he went the wrong way, he would end up right back where he started the day before. Gray felt panic surging up. He only had a week to make it through this blasted maze, and who knew what horrors Lucy was suffering while he got lost. So which way was he supposed to go? Left, or right?

_Which way?_

Then he looked down at the snow. As he slept, his body had melted the snowy path. He could see where his head had laid and where his feet had gone. He recalled lying down against the left wall. Gray reached out and touched that wall.

"This one," he sighed, trying to calm down. "I follow this wall. To get out of a maze, you follow the left wall. That's what Lucy said, and Lucy's smart. Left wall. Left wall..."

"_You now have six days and eight hours left_."

Gray looked up at the voice that chimed out. He had vaguely heard it counting the hours all night long. He realized, he had already been in this labyrinth for sixteen hours. It felt like a lifetime!

"I'm coming, Lucy," he said with firm determination, and Gray set out once again with one hand on the left wall.

* * *

Outside, Erza, Happy, and Natsu were camped in front of the maze entrance. While Happy cooked fish for breakfast and Natsu attempted to make tea, Erza stood in front of the gate still blocked by Willie Whitehall's runes. She frowned deeply with her arms folded, trying to sort out this mystery. The runes would not let them enter. Gray was inside, Lucy was apparently a _prize_ that Gray had to reach.

She had asked Happy to fly over the top, but he could not enter from above. Apparently, Whitehall's runes covered the entire maze. It proved he was an immensely powerful wizard, to have runes spread over such a massive piece of land. Happy said he saw Gray running around the twisting bush hedges, so at least they knew he was unharmed. Happy tried to fly over the whole thing, but he did not even get close to the center before tiring out. All they knew was that this maze was massive, bigger than the entire city of Magnolia.

Erza mumbled to herself. "The only people who can enter the maze are couples who have feelings of love for one another," she said, quoting what Levy told them was written within the runes. "The couple will be separated, and one has a week to complete the maze to save their lover from being frozen. Hmm...only lovers can enter."

"Maybe we should find Jellal," Happy suggested. "He llllllllikes you!"

The murderous glare she shot at him made the Exceed tremble.

"Perhaps we can find a weakness," Natsu suggested, staring at the tea he was trying to brew. "Is this supposed to look this color?"

"A weakness, huh?" Erza mused. She looked down the left side of the bushy wall, then the right. They seemed to go on forever. To have runes spread out over something this massive...Freed was the best runes wizard she knew, and although he could set up traps over a large city, casting runes over an entire city _plus_ traps within, and keeping all those runes up all the time would strain even a talented wizard like him. "It's possible that Whitehall made some errors. No prison is without flaws."

"Does that mean we're walking around this whole maze?" Happy frowned. "I told you, it's really, really big!"

Erza knew the task was daunting, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. "Gray is in there running all over this maze. Walking in a straight line around it wouldn't be anything like what he has to do. If we can get inside and help him rescue Lucy..."

Natsu jumped up. "That's right! Lucy is in danger. Let's find another way to get in."

"Aye sir!" Happy cheered.

Erza nodded. "We'll search for a weakness. I just hope Gray doesn't panic while he's inside. There appeared to be a lot of rules to this maze, and who knows what the penalties might be."

* * *

In the cabin in the center of the maze, Lucy watched the video lacrima that showed Gray's progress. She saw how he held his stomach, and she felt immensely guilty to be sitting at the table with tea and scones provided by the servant of Whitehall, the tomboyish Wisteria. Witnessing his hunger pains, Lucy could not bring herself to taste the food in front of her. It did not seem fair to eat while he slowly starved in the maze.

"You must eat, miss," Wisteria urged. "Your man wouldn't like to arrive and find you wasted away. He'll feel much better if he learns we treated you well."

"Treated me well?" Lucy glared. "You won't let me leave this cabin."

"It's one of Whitehall-sama's rules," the servant sighed, looking sad that she had to enforce it. "If you leave, you will be penalized."

"Whatever," Lucy frowned. "There's no rule that I have to eat, right? If Gray has to suffer, what right do I have to be served and sit around?"

Wisteria looked aside and muttered, "I wonder if she felt that way, too."

Lucy saw Gray unzipping his pants, ready to urinate, so she pushed the screen aside to give him privacy. "She? She who?"

Wisteria sat at the table with Lucy and poured herself some steaming tea. "I too was a victim of the maze."

Lucy jolted in shock. "You? But then why are you still here? Didn't your man come for you? Why aren't you frozen?"

Bashfully, Wisteria shook her head. "No, you're mistaken. I was the one who solved the maze. It was my girlfriend who got frozen."

Lucy blushed. "Oh, you're...you're a lesbian. Sorry, I couldn't tell."

"It's not like I wear a sign announcing _I like girls_. Don't worry, I wouldn't come on to you. I don't think I could love again after all that happened back then."

Lucy pouted at such a dark tone in the lady's voice. "Why are you still here? I thought if the guy...err, that is, if the _other partner_ doesn't make it in time, if they still managed to get through the maze, they're free to leave."

Wisteria leaned back in her chair with her teacup in her hands, and she gazed out the window at the winter world outside. "Yes, I managed to make it through the maze without eating the berries, but it took me ten days. I had a pack of food, but I went through it in four days. Six days of not eating! When I finally _crawled_ out, I found my lover in this cabin, frozen solid."

"So, she's...dead?" Lucy asked in trembling foreboding.

"No...not that I know of, anyway. I managed to break my lover free from the spell; however, she was so angry that I failed to save her from the pain of being frozen, she broke up with me and left. I was shattered. I had suffered starvation for her, and I would have endured death itself to rescue her. Even though I managed to break Whitehall's spell, even though I said...well, never mind...still, she hated me. This maze," she scowled, "it brings out the worst in people. I had nowhere else to go. I felt like I could never leave and face the world without her by my side. She meant everything to me, and I...I just wanted to hide. I asked Whitehall for permission to stay hidden inside his maze. He agreed, but since he doesn't want a freeloader, my duty is to care for anyone captured by that damned madman. At the very least, I can give them encouragement and keep them from being lonely. If my lover had someone to talk to her, perhaps she wouldn't have turned into such a bitter soul."

Lucy felt sorry for this woman. She could see the pain in those tight eyes and hear the lonesomeness in her words. "Have you ever seen others make it?"

Wisteria sadly shook her head. "I've been in this house for three years. During that time, I've sat with many women, but I haven't seen a single male besides the mad wizard!" Her eyes turned up with a dire expression to Lucy, like gazing at someone she knew was destined to die. "Many couples inadvertently enter the maze, but during my time here, not a single man has made it. Some die from the cold. Most die from eating the berries. Others fall victim to one of Whitehall's sadistic pitfalls. For three years, no man has survived this maze."

Lucy's mouth dropped. She looked back to the monitor with a shiver of dread prickling her arms. Gray had finished his nature business and was walking again. The camera shifted, and this one was focused closer on his face. Lucy could see the tenseness in his brow and determination in his glaucous blue eyes.

_No man has survived this maze._ Those threatening words echoed in her mind.

* * *

Gray continued through the maze, ignoring the tugging in his stomach and the dread in his mind. He feared for Lucy. He prayed Erza, Natsu, and Happy could find a way to save her first.

"_You now have six days and one hour left._"

"Oh, shut up already!" he yelled.

Nearly a full day, and he felt as if this maze might go on forever. He also began to wonder, since this was a magical maze, did the walls move? If so, Lucy's plan of following the left wall would fail. Could he ask?

"Hey, whoever is chiming the hours, do you talk?"

"_Sometimes_," the voice replied.

"Good. I've got questions. Do the walls move?"

"_The walls are plain, ordinary bushes. They only grow upward, and they are never rearranged._"

"So you're not going to totally shift the labyrinth, like that stunt they pulled in the Grand Magic Games," he realized, feeling a little better. "Are there monsters in this maze?"

"_Oh, most certainly!_" the voice said in a delighted tone. "_In fact, you're about to meet one._"

"Huh?"

Gray was hit from behind. He had not heard anything at all, so the attack stunned him for a couple seconds. He looked around and saw a massive bird with a leathery black head and dark purple wings, with claws that looked like they could rip an elephant in half.

"Am I allowed to use magic?" he shouted.

"_So long as the walls of the maze are not damaged, any magic or weapons are allowed_."

"Just don't be destructive, huh?" he muttered. "Maybe it's a good thing I'm in here and not Natsu."

"_Oh, it couldn't be any other man. You're the one in love with the lady._"

"Huh?" Gray asked, wondering what the disembodied voice meant by that. However, just then, the flying monster attacked again, diving forward with its claws outstretched. "Ice-Make: Lance."

Gray shaped the ice to be narrow enough not to touch the bush walls. Fighting in such a confined space made things difficult for him. The bird had the freedom to fly about the walls, but Gray was limited in his movements.

"Stupid overgrown pigeon," he growled.

Suddenly, a wave of weakness swept over him. Using magic took energy, which came from his own body. Having gone a full day without food, his energy was diminished. While Gray held his head in dizziness, the bird swooped down. One claw tore into Gray's shoulder. He bellowed in pain and swiftly made an ice sword to chop at the monster. He missed, and the creature flapped back up into the sky. The giant talon left behind a deep gash in his skin. Already, blood flowed down his arm at an alarming rate.

"Not good," he hissed. Starvation and blood loss...two easy ways to die. "I'm not losing after one stupid day. I have to save Lucy, and I'm not going to let anything stop me." The sword evaporated. "Ice-Make: Bazooka!" The massive weapon formed on his shoulder, and Gray held onto it tightly. "Dodge this, you buzzard!"

The blast nearly knocked Gray off his feet. Ice shot up, hit the bird, and burst it into many pieces of bloody feathers that scattered around the maze.

"Damn. Too much," Gray frowned. "I was hoping to shoot it down and eat it. If I go looking for the pieces, I'll lose my way. Oh well."

The bazooka went away in a shower of snowflakes. Gray collapsed and looked over at his shoulder. Half his body was red with blood, and he already felt numbness in his fingers. He pressed the wound together as well as possible, flinching at the stinging pain, and swept his hand over the torn skin. Ice covered over it, bandaging the gash.

"Best I can do for now," he muttered. "Chalk up another scar. Maybe it'll impress Lucy."

He touched the scar on his forehead, remembering when he got it, and how Lucy had tended him. It was the first time they had flirted together, although it had been only a brief exchange. Still, that was probably when he first began to think she was cute.

"I wish Lucy could tend me again," he mumbled. His eyes began to droop down. "So...tired. Just...little nap."

* * *

Lucy watched the screen. She saw Gray pass out after the fight, and her hand caressed the view of his face.

"Oh Gray," she wept.

Watching him, being unable to go to him, tore at her heart. Hearing him mention about her healing him reminded her of Galuna Island. She really thought Gray was handsome at that time. Although she tried to flirt and did her best to accentuate her breasts while tending him, he never made a move on her in the days and weeks following that mission. That was when she realized, he must simply not be attracted to her. So they became friends and teammates. She was happy this way...mostly.

She still thought Gray was sexy. There were moments when she wished he would just give her a look, a touch, something to show her that he thought of her as something more than just another member of Fairy Tail. Something...anything...

Wisteria walked over to the table, leaned over Lucy's shoulder, and looked at the lacrima screen. "The baldbuzz bird, eh? That's a nasty one to meet up with. When I did this maze, I ran from that thing. Your lover is pretty strong to defeat it."

"He's not my lover," Lucy said automatically, hardly even listening as worries filled her mind.

"That's a nasty injury, though," Wisteria frowned, leaning in closer to look. "Some sort of ice magic, eh? Lucky. The ice will slow the blood loss, but without proper medical attention, it'll leave a scar."

Lucy chuckled to herself. "That's fine. He once told me, 'I don't care where I get hurt, as long as my injuries are visible.' For Gray, this is proof that he is a fighter. You're right, Gray's strong. If anyone can make it through this damn maze, it's him."

"I hope so," Wisteria smiled genuinely, "and I really hope he makes it in time. If he doesn't...please heed my words: Don't be angry at him. As you can see for yourself, he's trying his hardest."

Lucy felt heat flushing her cheeks. "I can't be angry at Gray," she whispered timidly. "I mean, he annoys me sometimes with his stripping habit, but I could never hate him."

"Oh?" Wisteria chuckled, leaning in with a playful smirk. "Do you love him after all?"

Lucy stubbornly looked away. "Of course not! I just...I don't dislike him, that's all."

The tomboy chuckled and leaned back again, scratching at her spiky purple hair. "You're cute, Lucy. If I was Gray, I'd totally think you were hot." Lucy gawked at her, and Wisteria just laughed. "Oh come on! He'd be an idiot not to think that."

"Well...um...thanks?" Lucy said with a blush. "I'm sorry, I've just never had a woman think I was hot."

"I bet lots of women think you're hot," Wisteria shrugged. "It's just an awkward thing for women to admit to one another. This guy...Gray...he definitely thinks you're sexy. Otherwise, you wouldn't be in this maze. And you think he's sexy too, don't you?"

Lucy pouted and forcefully looked away. "None of your business!" she muttered.

"Sorry, you're right."

Wisteria gazed down at the blonde, and a bittersweet expression troubled her face. Over the years, she had sat with many women in the cabin. She thought she had hardened her heart, knowing those women were destined to be frozen and turned into one of Whitehall's artworks. However, this young lady was different. For the first time in three years, Wisteria felt like maybe, this was a couple who could make it out.

"Keep faith in him, Lucy. I'll be cheering him on, too."

Lucy looked up in amazement, then smiled with tears of relief in her eyes. "Thanks!"

* * *

"_You now have five days and eighteen hours left."_

Gray jolted awake at the mechanical voice. It was dark already. He felt sleep creeping back up to him. His shoulder throbbed, and the layer of ice was red with frozen blood. He carefully melted it. Instantly, blood began to drip out again. The gash was not healed. It needed stitches, but he had nothing like that here. He pressed the skin together again, hissing at the pain, and created another ice bandage. Although it slowed the bleeding, it was not the best way to heal such a gash.

"Left wall," he mumbled. "Or...was it right wall? Left? Right? Shit!" His head felt so hazy from hunger and loss of blood, he could not think properly. "Left. Definitely left. So...which one is left?"

The fight had Gray a bit turned around. In the dark, he had to look hard for evidence of footprints in the snow. Bending over to look at the path and feeling the snow with his good hand, he finally found the imprints of his boots.

"I was heading this way, so..." He placed his hand on the bloodberry bush. "Left wall."

He realized that, before falling asleep again, he needed to remember which wall was the left wall. If he got disoriented again, he would end up undoing all the progress he had made over the past two days. He plucked some of the poisonous red berries and made an arrow out of them pointing to the left wall. Then, wondering if maybe birds or mice might come to eat the berries, he also squeezed one berry to stain the snow, that way even if the berries were removed, he would know which way was left.

With that precaution, Gray collapsed in the snow again. He gazed up, hoping to see stars. Instead, the sky was cloudy. He could tell that it would snow soon. It felt cold enough now, and Gray realized that a normal person would freeze to death in weather like this.

"I'm lucky," he mumbled. "Lucky...Lucy..." He felt dizzy again. "Lucky to have...Lucy." Then Gray shut his eyes and passed out into a dreamless night of pain and hunger.

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Penalty

Chapter 4

**Penalty**

"_You now have four days and two hours left_."

Lucy stared out the window, worried that it had been three days since she and Gray entered the labyrinth. She glanced briefly at the video lacrima that was now her only lifeline to him, but also a tool of torture, fueling the bitterness of guilt until she could hardly stand it.

Watching Gray on the video was too depressing. He had a constant look of dread, but lately there was pain in his face, too. She knew Gray had no food. He had suffered for three days with nothing to eat and only the snowfall to drink. She felt it was unfair that here she was, sitting in this warm house, a servant cooking for her, a soft bed, a roaring fire, tea and cookies, while Gray was out there walking for hours and hours, slowly going mad with hunger.

The only good thing was that he had not hit any more traps. A few times, she heard Wisteria mutter, "There used to be a monster there. I guess it died." Lucy wondered if the jerk who ran this insane labyrinth starved the animals he put in there. It was sad to think that even those beasts suffered for the madman's entertainment.

Finally, she had enough. She waited until Wisteria left to gather more firewood, then Lucy pulled out her Spirit Keys. She grabbed a gold one and held it up.

"Open the Gate of the Virgin! Virgo!"

In a puff of pink smoke, the Celestial Spirit appeared. "I await punishment," she said primly.

"Virgo, I need to get out of here. The rules are that if I walk out the door, Gray will be penalized somehow. I don't want him hurt, so we're going to bend the rules. Instead of leaving out the door, I want you to drill a tunnel down and out of the cabin."

"Understood, Princess," Virgo nodded, and she began to drill down through the wooden floorboards. However, not even a meter down, Virgo receive a violent shock of electricity. "Ahhh!" she cried out as her pink hair stood out on ends, crispy from the jolt. "Good...punishment!" With her face in agony, Virgo poofed back to the Spirit World.

The runes over and around the house lit up. Lucy jolted as she saw their menacing gleam through the cabin windows. Suddenly, a voice burst out over the entire labyrinth.

"_Penalty. Eight hours have been subtracted. You now have three days and eighteen hours left."_

On the video lacrima, she heard Gray screaming, "I didn't do anything!"

"_Your partner attempted to escape_," spoke the same voice Lucy had just heard overhead.

"Then tell her not to! I'll make it there. Stupid girl, just wait for me!"

Lucy shouted back, "Who are you calling stupid?"

"I know she's blonde, but I didn't think she was that dumb."

"You asshole!" Lucy screamed to the monitor.

Wisteria hurried forward. "He can't hear you. And didn't I tell you not to leave the cabin? Every escape attempt is a penalty, and every penalty is an eight-hour subtraction."

Gray looked more frantic now, running despite the obvious fatigue in his gaunt face. "Just wait, Lucy. It's barely been three days. That bastard said it took him three days, so just wait. I'm probably almost there."

"He's not almost here," Wisteria frowned. Her grim words made Lucy want to scream.

"Just...just wait for me," Gray said in desperation.

Lucy touched the screen as she saw the anguish in his brow. "Sorry, Gray. I guess I should just believe in you. I'm sorry."

* * *

Outside, Erza, Natsu, and Happy had spent the past three days walking around the perimeter of the maze. Natsu dragged his feet wearily and occasionally complained about the cold. Then suddenly, up ahead they saw a change to the neverending wall of shrubbery.

"A gate inside!" Natsu cheered, racing forward haphazardly. He ran up to the entrance...and smacked right into a wall of runes. "Are you serious!" he bellowed in frustration.

Erza looked around at the snowy landscape. "We've come full circle."

"Eh?" Happy cried out in shock. "A circle? I thought this maze was more in a hexagon shape."

"No, I mean..." She pointed to signs of a campfire three days old. "We're right back where we started."

"This sucks!" Natsu raged. "There wasn't a single extra opening. How does this bastard get his victims if there's only a single entrance to the stupid maze?"

"It might be all other openings are magically closed once the lovers enter the labyrinth," Erza mused.

"There's that term again," Natsu snapped. "Lovers! Gray and Lucy aren't lovers."

Happy covered his mouth and giggled. "Maybe we should find Jellal, so he and Erza can enter together."

Natsu went pale and frantically waved at Happy to shut up before the Titania punted him into the sky...again. However, Erza seriously considered it.

"If we want anyone to enter the maze, it _would_ need to be people with mutual affections, whether or not they are dating."

Happy sighed dreamily. "I'd love to go through a maze with Charle."

"But it has to be mutual," Natsu pointed out. "Charle totally doesn't like you, buddy."

Happy growled and swiped one of his claws over Natsu's leg.

"Ouch! You haven't done that since you were a kitten."

"It's a shame Natsu's doesn't have a sweetheart," Erza said. "He could probably sniff his way through the maze."

"Aye," agreed Happy. "He's too immature to have romantic feelings for someone."

"Will you two stop talking bad about me?" Natsu whined.

Erza and Happy chuckled to themselves.

* * *

"_You now have three days and eight hours left_."

Inside the maze, Gray was utterly exhausted. He could barely think from the hunger. He knew he was wasting time lying around on the ground, but he had no energy left to move.

"Just...a rest," he panted. "Maybe more to drink."

He scooped up a handful of snow and ate it.

"Why are snowcones filling, but snow itself isn't?" he grumbled.

He looked over at the bushes. Those poisonous berries seemed to be getting plumper and redder as he went deeper into the labyrinth. The temptation to eat a few was maddening, but he had to hold back.

"Berries...bet they're sweet. Northern bloodberries taste the same as the southern variety. Man, Mira made the best bloodberry pie one Christmas." He licked his lips at the memory. Then Gray growled and shook his head. "Dammit, stop talking about food, and stop talking to yourself."

He sighed and looked up at the sky. Still the pain in his stomach was agonizing. All around him, he saw berries, berries, berries.

"Stop taunting me!" he screamed. "Stop it!"

In a burst of anger, he destroyed one of the hedges with a geyser of ice. The runes lit up and warned him.

"_You now have three days and zero hours left_."

"Screw it," he moaned, and collapsed back onto the snow. "I'm gonna sleep."

More than just a sleep, it was more like Gray passed out. In his dreams, he swam through a vat of giant red berries, guided only by Lucy shouting at him, "Hurry, Gray. Hurry!"

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Berries

Chapter 5

**Berries**

"_You now have one day and eight hours left._"

It was noon of the fifth day, and Gray was just waking up. He did not feel like moving from his spot in the snow. The sky was a tumultuous silver, and he stared up as snow began to fall into his face. Still he did not move. One landed on his eyelash, and his lids closed.

He could almost see Ur standing there, her hand on her hip, giving him that stern yet loving look of hers whenever he dawdled.

"Come on, Gray. Lyon is waiting for us."

He smiled at her voice. If Ur was now in the sea, and the sea evaporated to become clouds, and those clouds became rain and snow, perhaps that meant a part of Ur was in the snowfall, too.

The flakes felt good, like little cold kisses. With his eyes closed, he saw Lucy there. She was floating above him, her golden hair draping around him, her large brown eyes gentle as she smiled tenderly.

"I want you to come for me, Gray," her voice said in a sensual wavering tone.

She kissed him, and he moaned softly. Then there were more small kisses, on his lips, on his cheeks, his forehead, his ear. Her icy kisses drifted down his neck, then over his bare chest.

"L-Lucy..." he moaned.

He reached up, but his hand went through the ghostly image of her. He wanted to hold her, to touch her, be warmed by her, and kiss her. He wanted to taste her plump lips and suckle those sumptuous breasts.

"Lucy..." he sighed as the hallucination faded away.

He felt his mind drifting on the delirium of hunger. He opened his eyes again to see the baccate bushes beckoning to him with their crimson temptations. He realized there was no way he could make it in thirty-two hours if he lacked the energy to walk.

He dragged himself over to the left bush wall, the one he had been following before collapsing. It was still marked with the arrow of berries he made every night to remind him which path to take. He picked up those berries, now frozen in the snow, and stared at the ripe color.

He shook his head. As a child, he had been warned about bloodberries. If you ate one, you would not feel the effects instantly, but a day and a half later, enough time so that you forgot what it was you ate, that was when the poison would affect you. It hit the muscles first, causing extreme agony in the arms and legs. Then it reached the brain, causing deliria and paranoia. It was not unheard of that someone with bloodberry poisoning might murder their own family in madness. Then it hit the stomach, severe vomiting and diarrhea, and the dehydration intensified the muscle pain and delirium. Finally, after three days, death. There were no antidotes. It took a magical healer, a powerful one, to halt the advancement of the poison. The only healer he knew of that magnitude was Wendy, and she was back in Magnolia.

He might make it out of this cursed maze without eating, but his progress would be incredibly slow. He had only thirty-two hours to reach Lucy. If he could not make it by then...

Was his life really worth living if he lost Lucy? How could he face his friends if they found out he saved himself but sacrificed her?

Gray looked at the crimson berries, then up into the sky. He heard Lucy's laugh and saw her smile in the clouds. Her lips were as red as those berries. He wanted to see that smile again, if just once before the end.

"To save Lucy," he said in a raspy voice, "I'll risk it all."

Then he popped a berry into his mouth. It was sinfully sweet, and his stomach sensed the return of nutrients. He grabbed two more berries and chewed them, spitting out the seed in the middle. Then he scooped up all the berries that made the arrow and put everything, berries and snow, into his mouth. As he chewed, he plucked off more and more berries, barely waiting before putting them into his mouth. Blood red juice dripped down his chin and stained the pure white snow.

* * *

In the cabin, the lacrima screen beeped, and a new counter began.

Lucy jolted, having fallen asleep at the table while watching Gray. The camera now was at a bad angle. She could only see his back. However, the new ticking counter was what caught her eye.

"What's that?" she asked.

Wisteria came over from where she was cooking ramen in the cabin's kitchen. Her brow tightened when she saw the screen.

"That idiotic fool! He's eaten the berries."

Lucy gasped in horror and looked at the screen again. She still could not see well, but she realized Gray's hands were ripping off berries from the bushes. His head turned for a moment as he spit out the seeds, and she saw the bloody stains on his chin.

Suddenly, she shrieked, "_Nooooo!_"

Lucy jumped up and ran to the door. Wisteria bolted after her and held Lucy in a vise-like grip just before her hand could reach the doorknob.

"You can't go out there. You'll give him another penalty, and his time is limited already."

"I don't care," she sobbed. "If he eats those berries, he'll die."

"It's too late, Lucy," the woman warned. "Even if he vomits them this very instant, the poison is in his blood." She sighed and rested her head on Lucy's back. "I'm sorry. There's nothing either of us can do."

Lucy collapsed to her knees. "No...please, God, no!"

Wisteria sat with her and hugged Lucy into her chest. The purple-haired woman stroked that blonde hair and rocked Lucy gently, trying to give her what comfort she could under her limited circumstances as a servant to a madman.

"We can't do anything but pray, Lucy. If he makes it in time, perhaps Whitehall will be merciful and get Gray to a healer before it's too late. Or maybe your friends can rush him to the nearest town. Just keep hope in him."

Lucy nodded while sniffling. She slowly stood up, her knees shaking, and Wisteria helped her back to the table. Gray had eaten his fill, and already he looked more alert. He cleaned the horrific berry stains with a bit of snow.

"That's...odd," Wisteria mumbled. "The counter shows how many days he has left before the berries kill him, but it says two days and not three."

"Is it because he ate so many?" asked Lucy.

"Quantity doesn't matter with this poison. Northern bloodberry poisoning is determined by body temperature. Someone who is hot burns off the poison, but it flows more readily in someone who is cold. If this is showing he only has two days, Gray must be frozen near death. Considering he lost his shirt sometime yesterday, that's not surprising, I guess."

"No, that's just how he is," Lucy assured her. "He's an ice wizard, so his body temperature is much lower than normal people."

"That's not good," Wisteria frowned. "I'm not sure if he'll have time to get to a healer now."

"How much longer until he reaches the cabin?"

Wisteria hummed as she looked at the area around Gray. The ice wizard rose up and began walking again. As he moved away, the monitor suddenly flicked to a camera at a different angle. "I don't know this section," she mused thoughtfully, "but I would say he's a little over one day away."

Lucy looked at the main counter. One day and eight hours. Gray could make it! There was still hope!

**End of Chapter 5**


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